Brier Dodge, Orléans News
October 19, 2017
No shortage of Halloween events taking place in Orléans
It’s that time of the year when ghosts and goblins take over front yards, and pumpkins pop up around every corner.
There’s no shortage of spooky events taking place in Orléans, including an escape room at the Cumberland branch of the Ottawa Public Library.
“Libraries bring people together,” said the branch’s staff member Émilie Walsh. “It’s somewhere you go to hang out, and we just want to stay up-to-date and current with what people are interested in.”
Escape rooms have become popular in the last few years, setting up rooms with a series of clues or puzzles people need to solve in order to find a key or password to get out in a set amount of time. Several Ottawa businesses offer them year round, but it’s something that several other branches tried out this summer, Walsh said.
A group of high school volunteer has made turning the children’s programming room into the escape room a special project this month.
The storyline is that attendees will be part of a witch convention, and if they don’t escape the room, a spell will be cast on them and they’ll turn into bats or rats.
It’ll run on Oct. 28 from 1 to 4:30 p.m., and last 20 minutes. Registration for time slots for the free activity will start at 10 a.m.
The room is designed for teams of three to six people ages 10 and up. Those younger than 10 are welcome to join as helpers, but the room difficulty level is geared toward people ages 10 and up.
The escape room isn’t the only thing going on at the library that day. The haunted library theme will continue into the rest of the celebration with a storyteller at 2 p.m., face-painting, crafts and more. Attendees are encouraged to wear Halloween costumes.